Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 5 September 2010 by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and Luke 14:25-33.


Opening prayer:
Triune God, open our hearts to hear your words and lead us to understand your truth. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You. Amen.

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father, mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” The first time I read today’s gospel account about Jesus’ tough demand to His disciples was a long time ago -- over twenty years. This may be one of the most disturbing texts that we come across. How can a loving God ask His disciples to hate those who are close to them?

From what we have known about Jesus’ words and deeds as revealed in the gospels and the apostles’ letters, He was hardly such an unkind and hate-provoking person. Therefore, we need to read the teaching of Jesus in context and to examine the translation of the words.

What has been rendered in English as “hate” is a translation of the Greek word mesei, which in this context really meant ‘disregard, be indifferent to’. “Hate” in this context is not a call to develop an intense dislike for family members, it is a comparative statement. Jesus is not really calling on His followers to hate their father and mother, but is instead calling them to a commitment above all other commitments, including commitment to family. If they want to be His disciples, they are asked to give priority to Jesus. Disciples should bear the cross like Jesus.

In the context of Jesus’ time and the early years of the church, being a Christian was never easy. As we know from the experiences of apostles like Peter, Paul and Stephen (just to name a few), and of course of Jesus Himself, being Christian was extremely costly. Not only were the believers excluded and isolated from their mainstream community, they might be even persecuted to death. Therefore, from the beginning Jesus gave no sweet words and promises. He simply reiterated His demand to those who wanted to follow Him and became His disciples.

Jesus demanded His followers’ commitment if they decided to become His disciples. Jesus was talking to a crowd and not just His close friends. What Jesus required was commitment on the part of His followers, he sought disciples who would give their life and service to Him.

Jesus asked His followers to make Him the priority in life. Commitment is crucial because we may face different kinds of tensions and struggles in our path of joining Jesus’ mission and ministry. This is a very tough and challenging demand for the followers of Jesus. The demand from Jesus obviously poses great tension to the followers. A few months ago when I attended a friend’s ordination service, he almost cried when he acknowledged his family support to him and felt guilty that, because of his chosen career path, he would not be fully available when they needed him. I share that sentiment.

Mother Theresa, one of the faithful and humble servants of God that I respect so much, loved God and devoted her whole life to serve the poor in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. She left her Albanian family and went overseas to serve. She started the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, to serve the poorest of the poor, the sick and the dying. Even though she had a strong calling to serve in India, she faced a lot of objections from her own Catholic community at the beginning when she shared her vision with the spiritual fathers to start the ministry in Calcutta. Without strong commitment and taking Jesus as the first priority, Mother Theresa would never have been able to move ahead with her ground breaking but very meaningful ministry for the poor in India, and for God.

Jesus’ direct confrontation to His followers to pay the cost and take up the cross by all means, may appeal to all. Like it or not, Jesus’ teaching did help us to have some spiritual reflection. Jesus’ notion of bearing the cross and paying the cost for God’s sake has challenged us to avoid being a ‘spiritual consumer’ in the faith community. I use to hear people inviting friends to church by saying their children would learn good morals and they would benefit in this way or that. To hear God’s words of comfort, to enjoy friendship and receive blessing from God and so on are all good things. This is the grace of God fills in the faith community, to reveal His love and care to people. Yet, believers have to be transformed to become faithful disciples and learn to love God in return and follow the good deeds of Jesus Christ, model of our servant Lord on earth as a witness to Him.

We are not just takers, and certainly not mere spiritual consumers in church, here to receive the loving grace of God for free. Our incarnated Lord who liberates our life has put out a call to us.

I remember a time when I was back in Hong Kong from England after I finished my masters program in education. I found it difficult to fit in when I went back to my mother church. I began to search for another church. After several months, I could not find one in which I felt perfectly satisfied. One day when I prayed, the Holy Spirit inspired me to think I should stop looking for a church that satisfied my needs and met my expectations. God taught me that I should engage in a congregation to which I could contribute and help develop for God’s sake. I should participate in a church to give but not to take. Inspired by God’s spirit, I stopped ‘shopping for a church’. Eventually, I decided to stay in my home church. I began to take up a more active role to serve in different areas. Truly, I still faced frustration and disappointment on and off in church. Now and then I have thought of giving up and just walking away. Thank God for Her/His on-going love and encouragement that helps me to struggle and overcome difficulties. “To take Jesus as our priority in life” means, among other things, that we will go back to Him and seek His companionship and encouragement whenever we find the cross is too heavy to bear. Jesus Christ our Lord underwent this tough journey. He suffered, died and was resurrected. We are able to survive all these challenges when our lives are deeply engaged in Him, for Him and with Him. Jesus Christ our redeemer will never forsake His faithful.

In my ‘shopping for a church’ experience, I learnt one more thing. We should not wait passively and just let things happen. Instead, we should do our best according to God’s will to make things happen. Like the parable that Jesus said in the gospel account of costly discipleship: If someone needs to build a tower, he/she has to estimate the cost. Or if a king wishes to wage a war, he needs to calculate the chance of success. The emphasis of the parables is not about whether we have enough resource to build the tower or to wage the war. What is important is our preparation and efforts to achieve the goal, in other words to fulfill the calling of God. The teaching about estimating the cost also gives us a lesson about our full understanding of our potential and limitations. We need to know our strengths, limitations and be aware of our ignorance. As a Chinese proverb said, ‘If we have a better understanding of ourselves and others, we will win every battles.’ (知己知彼，百戰百勝)

At the end of the parable, Jesus emphasized that none of them could become His disciple if they did not give up everything. The essence of giving up of everything here is to recognize that God has claim on all areas. God has access to all we are. God therefore, should be the centre of all of a disciple’s life.

When I was preparing this sermon, it struck me that the renovation of our Manse at No. 2 Jordan Road illustrates this passage. We need to estimate the cost. We need good preparation and planning for this project. We need to have a clear understanding of ourselves which includes our past, our present and our future. We need to take up a strong sense of responsibility to complete the task for God and for the community. We cannot just start something but leave it unfinished.

Whatever we do for the building, we do it for God. For everything is from God. The responsibility of the congregation is to take up a proactive role and serve as God’s faith stewards. The Manse is dilapidated and cannot wait any longer for its renovation. When we estimate the cost of renovating the building, we need to think also how are we going to use of the space for fulfilling the God’s will and mission in our community in Hong Kong.

The challenges ahead require of us a clear vision and mind, a commitment to take up the responsibility, a spirit of unity to face different views, and a fearless heart to overcome all difficulties, the courage to make the right decisions and bear the consequence to achieve the goal for God’s glory. We cannot achieve all these unless we are committed and ready to take up this costly discipleship with Christ, in Christ and for Christ.

Jesus does not make discipleship easy. He does not offer an easy payment plan. He never tries to disguise the cost of discipleship. Instead, he writes the price tag large for all to see.

But if we are willing to go through a tough and difficult journey with Jesus Christ, our lives will be enriched and developed in more depth. Our lives will not be the same.

The life, the death and His resurrection of Jesus Christ has given us hope and possibility.

We need committed disciples in our congregation to serve the Kingdom of God together. Jesus through His words challenged us to give more, to give everything to Him if we want to be His true disciples.

Sisters and brothers, would you respond to God that you are willing to bear the cross of Jesus Christ and follow Him faithfully?

Closing prayer:
Our God of life and love,

Grant us the courage to face all kinds of challenges, tensions and difficulties when we choose to become your faithful disciples. Strengthen our minds and hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit, to bear Jesus Christ’s costly cross for your service and glory. Amen.